Huckleberries: Voters had three questions for candidate

As you may know, seven of seven candidates endorsed by Kootenai County Reagan Republicans in four towns in Kootenai County won last Tuesday, including two of two in Coeur d’Alene. Reagan Republican-endorsed Dan Gookin told Huckleberries that Coeur d’Alene residents were interested in chiefly three things: Where do …

As you may know, seven of seven candidates endorsed by Kootenai County Reagan Republicans in four towns in Kootenai County won last Tuesday, including two of two in Coeur d’Alene. Reagan Republican-endorsed Dan Gookin told Huckleberries that Coeur d’Alene residents were interested in chiefly three things: Where do you stand on a public vote on McEuen Field changes? Are you an incumbent? Are you a Republican? You had to score three-for-three to get the surly “throw-the-bums-out” vote – yes on a public vote on McEuen Field, no on incumbency, and yes on Republican pedigree in nonpartisan City Council race. All other issues were window dressing. Yet progressive Mayor Sandi Bloem and three council members who face re-election in 2013 are moving ahead with the McEuen Field changes sans public advisory vote. In 2013, Bloem & Co. may learn how the British cavalry felt in Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s poem, “Charge of the Light Brigade.”

Loose moose

In his Outdoors blog, S-R colleague Rich Landers suggested good places in the Inland Northwest to see a moose on the loose, including Hangman Creek, Dishman Hills and Cataldo (where two moose were poached recently). My HucksOnline blog crowd offer more moose-friendly sites in North Idaho: Elmira, Naples, Wolf Lodge, Blue Creek Bay (on Lake Coeur d’Alene), Wolf Lodge saddle, Prichard Creek, Avery and Priest Lake. Or you can simply step out onto the balcony of your condo in downtown Coeur d’Alene and photograph one cutting across the parking lot at Independence Point, near Hagadone Corp. world HQ, as Don Sausser did two or three years ago. Don still has the photo of a startled motorist pinned against his vehicle as a young moose races through an empty parking spot inches away.

Huckleberries

Poet’s Corner: “Left hook like thunder/and brave beyond measure,/the final bell rings/for Smokin’ Joe Frazier” – The Bard of Sherman Avenue (“R.I.P.”) … HucksOnline Poll: 64 percent of my blog readers say da judge suffered a brain cramp when he handed former Kootenai County sheriff’s Capt. Karl Thompson a get-out-of-jail-free card until his sentencing Jan. 27 in the death of Otto Zehm. That percentage would be higher in Spokane County … Unsuccessful candidate Adam Graves was surprised to see British rocker Ozzy Osbourne’s name on incumbent Councilman Ron Edinger’s endorsement newspaper ad in the closing days of the Coeur d’Alene City Council election. Only this “Ozzy Osborn” spelled his name differently. Ozzy’s endorsement didn’t hurt. Edinger, a 75-year-old veteran of 40 years on the council, polled 72 percent in possibly his last hurrah.

Parting Shot

In Idaho, where plans to convert to mail-only voting can’t get past the Legislature, the turnout for off-year local elections last week was miserable per usual. Only 14.8 percent of the registered voters in Post Falls cast votes despite three contested City Council elections. John Austin calculated that Dan Gookin and Steve Adams won council seats in Coeur d’Alene, population 44,137, with 3,400-3,500 votes each or 8 percent of the population. “Isn’t it amazing that 8 percent have spoken for the other 92 percent? And, they call it democracy?” Yes, but not an informed one.

You can follow D.F. Oliveria on his blog (spokesman.com/hbo) or on Twitter @Hucksonline.